This blog is written by author-activist David H. Albert, his daughter Princeton University graduate student Aliyah Shanti, and friends. Begun in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami and their work in south India in response, it chronicles visits to the offices of Land for the Tillers Freedom (LAFTI) in Kuthur, Tamil Nadu, and the work of Gandhian land-reform and ecological activists Krishnammal and S. Jagannathan. Please visit the Friends of LAFTI Foundation site at www.friendsoflafti.org

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Slow Food

Thanks to Donatella. She is completing her stint with LAFTI now, and is headed back to Italy, with our sincere appreciation.

Meanwhile, things continue apace. The blog will soon be taken up by my friend Dr. David Willis of Soai University. David met Amma and Appa for the first time approximately three days after I first got to their home – Christmas Day, 1977. And he speaks fluent Tamil (and Japanese, of course), and so this is always an opportunity to get questions answered that I haven’t managed yet!

After meeting with Krishnammal, Vandana Shiva returned to Italy. There was a large public meeting at the University of Turin (500 people or so.) At the end of the meeting, Carlo Petrini, the head of the international Slow Foods movement (www.slowfood.com), announced that they are going to help spearhead an effort to boycott "industrial shrimp" from the Third World. This should be a big boost to all of our efforts. If you don’t know about "slow foods", this is a good opportunity to find out!

I am pleased to note that I have heard of several study groups sprouting up around the English edition of "The Color of Freedom". If any of you need any help getting books in bulk, just let me know. All proceeds (not profits, but proceeds) from the sale of the book go directly to LAFTI – since I pay half-price for the books, it means I donate a dollar for every dollar you spend on them. Don’t know how long that will last, but it would be nice to find out!

Also, we received two wonderful reviews of the book, from Joanna Rogers Macy and John Taylor Gatto:

"The Color of Freedom is TERRIFIC! I read it with breathless attention and shouts of joy! This is exactly the kind of book we need: a real-life story with real-life heroes whose travails and triumphs enrich our own experience, seeding new possibilities. In this dark time, this book is both spiritually satisfying and strategically invigorating. These people are moral giants, in comparison with whom we are like pygmies. After the strong review of multinational shrimp farming, I think that I have eaten my last prawn!"

"Be forewarned: this is a provocative and dangerous book. The Color of Freedom is seemingly an account of the marvelous passion of a man and a woman, but make no mistake: it is really about you and the hidden strength which you have yet to draw upon."

-- John Taylor Gatto, former New York State Teacher of the Year, and author,The Underground History of American Education

Finally, I am going out speaking again. Mostly in the homeschooling world, where I am best known of course. But I am happy to combine trips with talks about the tsunami, Amma and Appa, and the prawn atrocities – just send me an e-mail and we can kibbitz!

2 Comments:

i really feel with u reading the posts. its been great experience for you to have been at the Tsunami hit area.i did see u there , but we did not meet. i stayed in Lafti when u were there. it was nice to see u energetic over there.

Thanks, Kalyani. Of course we met briefly. As my memories slowly fade, the greatest sense I have is how much extraordinary beauty I saw in the midst of the tragedy. That will stay with me for a very long time!

Previous Posts

Links

Krishnammal and S. Jagannathan are the subjects of the new oral biography
The Color of Freedom by Laura Coppo, edited
by David H. Albert. All proceeds from the sale of the book through David Albert's website go to support LAFTIâs work.

The London-based Environmental Justice Foundation has a website devoted to the global deleterious
impact of prawn farming.
Through the site, you can also access their excellent report
âSmash and Grab: Conflict, Corruption, and Human Rights Abuses in the Shrimp Farming Industry."